RADE SERBEDZIJA, born 27 July 1946, is a Croatian actor, director and musician. He was one of the most popular Yugoslav actors in the 1970s and 1980s. He is internationally known mainly for his
supporting roles in Hollywood films such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, X-Men: First Class, The Saint and Mission: Impossible II, and for his recurring role as former Soviet
Army General Dmitri Gredenko in the sixth season of TV action series 24.
Šerbedžija was born in the village of Bunić within Lika region, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia. He is an ethnic Serb from Croatia. In 1969, he graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Arts of the
University of Zagreb and then worked as a theatre actor in the City Drama Theatre Gavella and at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. While still a student, Šerbedžija started to play leading
roles in films and theater productions. He is remembered as an outstanding Peer Gynt, Don Juan, Melkior Tresić, Oedipus, Hamlet, Leone Glembay and Richard III. Šerbedžija was among the top actors
in the former Yugoslavia, as well as an esteemed acting teacher at the Universities of Zagreb and Novi Sad.

In 1964 he first visited the USA, where he enrolled in drama school. Small parts on stage followed for many years until his 1974 breakthrough performance as "Hamlet" at the Dubrovnik Summer
Festival made him a star. Although he continued to appear in theatrical productions (notably, "Peer Gynt" and "Oedipus Rex"), Šerbedžija broke into films around the same time. Although many of
the more than 40 features he has made in the '70s and '80s have been little-seen outside of Yugoslavia, a handful have received widespread distribution. His early work included the starring role
in The Republic of Užice (1974).

He had various notable roles in Yugoslav film, among others in U gori raste zelen bor (1971), Variola Vera (1981), Kiklop (1982), Život je lep (1985). He was also among the leading actors in
several TV series, such as in Prosjaci i sinovi (1971), U registraturi (1976), Nikola Tesla (1977), Putovanje u Vučjak (1986).

Šerbedžija founded the Ulysses Theater with Borislav Vujčić on the Brijuni islands, where he also directs and acts in most plays. The theater was founded in 2000 and has been very successful so
far.

INTERNATIONAL CAREER
It was probably not until his turn as the captain interrogating a woman who rescued hundreds of children from the Holocaust in Hanna's War (1988) that he was noticed in the West.

In the early 1990s, during the course of the Yugoslav wars, he acted in a few films from various parts of the former Yugoslavia, including the Macedonian film Before the Rain in 1994. With the
dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, he and his family moved to Ljubljana, Slovenia to avoid the war. Šerbedžija then also acted in various western European films before he emigrated to
the United States.

He is perhaps most often recognised by world audiences for his supporting roles in Hollywood films such as Mission: Impossible II, Mighty Joe Young, The Saint, Eyes Wide Shut, Snatch, EuroTrip,
The Quiet American (2002), Shooter and a cameo in Batman Begins, often varying between sinister villains or trusting friends. He was offered to reprise his cameo role in The Dark Knight but opted
not to.

In 2001, he starred in a television production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic musical South Pacific in the role of the French plantation owner, Emile de Becque. He was also involved in the
BBC Television production of the spy-thriller show Spooks for one episode as a villain. In autumn of 2005, Šerbedžija had a supporting role in the NBC science fiction series Surface. His most
recent role is in Jeremy Podeswa's feature film adaptation of Anne Michaels' novel Fugitive Pieces, where he plays the character Athos Roussos. His most recent successful role is that of Captain
Blake in Rupert Wainwright's remake of The Fog.
He portrayed the part of Dmitri Gredenko on the sixth season of the hit Fox show 24.
On 26 May 2009, Šerbedžija announced that he had been cast in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 as the famous foreign wandmaker Gregorovitch, a 'brief but very important' role. He
began filming in November 2009. He announced his casting at a press conference for Fugitive Pieces, and he added that he knew he had the role six months before.

Šerbedžija is also known for his poetry readings and has released four albums. On the London stage, he won critical praise for his work in Corin Redgrave's Moving Theatre Company staging of
"Brecht in Hollywood" (1994).

PERSONAL LIVE
Šerbedžija was married to Ivanka Cerovac, but they divorced in 1987. They have a son, film director Danilo Šerbedžija (b. 1971) and a daughter, actress Lucija (b. 1973). Šerbedžija met his second
wife, Lenka Udovički, the sister of Serbian politician Kori Udovički, in Subotica in 1990 and they married in 1991.

Together with his current wife, Lenka Šerbedžija, he has three daughters: Nina the eldest, Vanja, the middle child and Mimi the youngest. Nina is now attending college and the younger two are in
high school. The children grew up in London for their early lives, then moved to California because of Šerbedžija's acting career.

His parents left Vinkovci for Belgrade in 1991. His mother died in 1997, while his father still lives in Belgrade.

In 1992, while at a club in Belgrade, an intoxicated youth swore at him, calling him "Serb traitor", then shot his gun in the air. The youth himself was from Lika, as was Šerbedžija. He then took
his wife and at the time, only daughter Nina, and left Zagreb and Belgrade, and settled in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Šerbedžija has called himself "Yugo-nostalgic", and in 2011, he said that times were better in Socialist Yugoslavia than now. Šerbedžija has displayed his national/ethnic neutrality by publicly
showing support for Croatian athletes.

Among his family's addresses are: London, England; Hollywood, California; Zagreb, Croatia; Belgrade, Serbia; while he currently lives in Rijeka, Croatia (as of January 2011).